Google Play’s new algorithm to help reduce Android update sizes

The tech giant will now show the exact size of the app updates So far, the platform showed the size of the app while the exact size of the app update remained hidden for the users.TOI Tech | July 25, 2016, 17:55 IST

NEW DELHI: Next time you update an app from Google Play store without being on a Wi-Fi network, you may not have to worry about your data consumption. Google has announced some changes to its Google Play Store that promises to reduce the size of your app updates. The improvements will now show the app’s exact size on the Google Play listing page and will compress the size of heavy apps as well.

The tech giant will now show the exact size of the app updates. So far, the platform showed the size of the app while the exact size of the app update remained hidden for the users. The information will be showed in the app’s detail box on Google Play. This is likely to help users free-up the space in their devices before downloading them.

As per the firm, almost 98% app updates download only the changes between the current and the new version, and merge them with the old files. The update would make the process more efficient and would reduce the update size by up to 50%. This is likely to save some internet data on both Wi-Fi and cellular data.

Lastly, the improvement would also reduce the big app sizes by up to 12%. “APK Expansion Files allow you to include additional large files up to 2GB in size (e.g. high resolution graphics or media files) with your app, which is especially popular with games. We have recently expanded our delta and compression algorithms to apply to these APK Expansion Files in addition to APKs, reducing the download size of initial installs by 12%,” said Google in a blog post.

The company recently also launched its Cultural Institute app for Android and iOS users. The app aims to help art lovers in India and around the world discover works and artifacts from museums in over 70 countries.